


What Counts As A Love Language?

by KatyaMorrigan



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Banter, Blushing, F/M, Flirting, Friendship, Gen, Laughter, M/M, Matthias puts up with so much, Nina and Jesper being smooth, Other, Teasing, Unwilling boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27763390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatyaMorrigan/pseuds/KatyaMorrigan
Summary: The Crows (minus Kaz because he's grumpy) are at the Crow Club, drinking and laughing, when Nina makes a bet with Jesper over who can make their boyfriend blush the most. Cue much incessant flirting and banter between them all, and some incredibly tolerant boyfriends.
Relationships: Jesper Fahey/Wylan Van Eck, Kaz Brekker/Inej Ghafa (mentioned), Matthias Helvar/Nina Zenik
Comments: 6
Kudos: 88





	What Counts As A Love Language?

**Author's Note:**

> Day 28 of my NaNoWriMo writing challenge this year - one oneshot a day, every day for the whole of November. I'm following the SOFTober 2020 prompts by @wafflesandkruge on Instagram to give me some fluffy starting points for the coming month of fics.  
> The prompt for today was "blush".  
> I hope you enjoy!

“When are our handsome men going to arrive, do you think?” Jesper asked Nina as they sat at their table in the Crow Club, sipping drinks and gossiping. It had been about an hour since they had left the Slat early following another meeting – Kaz-led and increasingly dull – and Nina was beginning to wonder when their respective boyfriends would show up.

“There’s no chance they’ve eloped with each other,” she replied. Jesper chuckled.

“Can you imagine little Wylan with your hunky Fjerdan?”

“Now that’s a mental image.” Nina grinned at the thought of Wylan struggling to hold Matthias’ hand – and the scowl her boyfriend was giving her even within her mind’s eye. “Thank goodness for heterosexuality.”

“Never thought I’d hear you say that.” Jesper raised his eyebrows at her and bit the rim of his tankard with a click.

“So long as I get to keep my Fjerdan, you can have your merchling.”

“And there I was, worried you liked them skinny and ginger.”

“No, I leave that to recovering Kaz addicts.”

“Harsh.”

Nina laughed as Jesper gave her a wounded expression before joining in the amusement. She looked across the club, seeing the strange crowds that it drew. The Crow Club wasn’t the most popular place along the Staves, but it certainly managed to appeal to enough groups that it was never empty in the evenings. It was nights like this when Nina was glad to be associated with Kaz Brekker – nobody ever tried to take their favourite table in the back corner for fear of upsetting the Bastard of the Barrel. There were few benefits to keeping his stubborn ass nearby, but that was one of them.

She took another gulp of wine and looked back at Jesper. He was fiddling with his earring, bouncing one leg, and drawing patterns in the condensation on the side of his ale glass. They got on like two burning buildings, and she felt increasingly lucky for the bunch of criminals she had fallen in with. Fun like this certainly didn’t exist in the Second Army.

“Hang on, here they are,” Jesper suddenly piped up, leaning to the side and pointing at the door behind Nina. “And they brought Inej!”

“Even better,” Nina grinned, turning to see them come in: one broad, one skinny, and one tiny. She raised her hand in a wave, and got a smile back from Inej as well as a clear brightening on Matthias’ face. Wylan gave a crinkle-nosed smile to Jesper, and gave his boyfriend a kiss as he took the seat beside him.

“Where’s my kiss?” Nina demanded as Matthias and Inej took seats either side of her. Inej promptly turned and planted a light kiss on her cheek, and the table erupted with laughter. Jesper was smacking the table with the palm of his hand, Wylan was squirming in his seat, and Matthias shook his head as he chuckled.

“Saved you the job, Matthias,” Inej said with a grin.

Jesper pouted. “Now I feel slighted.”

“You got a Wylan kiss, you’re doing fine,” she replied.

“Can’t I have an Inej kiss too?”

“Girlfriends only.”

Jesper tutted and rolled his eyes.

“Are we just your rebounds because Kaz isn’t here?” he said, throwing one arm around Wylan’s shoulders.

“Definitely,” Inej grinned. “Nina and Kaz are comparable in every way.”

“You take that back!” Nina protested as more laughter spilled from her friends. Inej was always so quick with jokes like these, and it brightened the mood of the table immeasurably. Even though it was admittedly nice to have Kaz there sometimes, he did limit the general amusement of the group. Inej by herself could more than make up for his absence.

Nina looked at Matthias. He had been quiet since arriving, and she was unsure whether he was okay or not. To be fair, if she asked, he may be more put out by having to respond in front of the group. She decided the safe route was to just lean against his shoulder and look at him upside down.

“I’m still waiting for a kiss,” she said quietly, batting her lashes at him. Matthias gave a small grin and pressed his lips to her forehead.

“You’re too eager for this kind of thing in front of the others.”

“Would you be able to resist kissing you?”

“What kind of question is that?” he said, rolling his eyes.

“You’re so kissable,” Nina declared, “that I think you would turn yourself gay.”

Jesper snorted as he caught the tail-end of their exchange, and Wylan made a confused noise as Matthias stuttered and went pink.

“That’s extremely unlikely.”

“Aw, but you’re blushing!”

“Because that’s such a weird thing to say!”

“And you’re surprised about that?” Jesper said incredulously. “Nina says ten ridiculous things before she gets up in the morning.”

“The first three are that I love you,” Nina replied immediately, looking at Matthias. His blush calmed and he glared at her instead. “I never said it’s untrue – just that it’s ridiculous.”

“You’re ridiculous,” he retorted childishly, going over to the bar and ordering himself a beer. Nina tutted as he walked away, watching his broad figure as he walked. Matthias was so handsome, and she could see him clenching his fists just by the way the muscles under his shirt bunched up. It was kind of attractive.

“Why do I feel like you manage to offend Matthias even more than the rest of us?” Wylan said, taking Jesper’s tankard and sipping from it.

“He’s offended that he likes me so much,” she replied. “It’s not something I can help.”

“Well, and you do your best to piss him off.”

“It’s my love language. What’s yours?”

“Being told he’s cute,” Jesper said with a grin, poking Wylan’s nose and making him bat his hand away.

“That’s not true!” Wylan protested, but his freckles were already merging together with the pink rising in his cheeks.

“Aw,” Inej cooed. “I bet Jesper compliments you loads.”

“He does,” Wylan said begrudgingly. “I hate it.”

“You hate that it makes you turn into a gooey little marshmallow.” Jesper wrapped both arms around Wylan and smacked his lips as he planted a large kiss on his cheek.

“I’m going to die,” Wylan declared.

“Why are you dying?” Matthias asked as he returned to the table, carrying two beers in one hand and a small glass of port in the other. He slid the port over to Inej, and handed Nina the extra beer. She was surprised by the gesture, but immediately warmed by it.

“Love languages,” Inej explained. “Nina says hers is being annoying—”

“Um, not quite!”

“—and Jesper has informed us that Wylan’s is being complimented. What’s yours?”

“I don’t have a love language,” Matthias said, a little more aggressively than necessary, and he took a large gulp of beer.

“Everyone has one!” Inej continued. “It’s whatever your partner does that makes you feel the most loved. Not necessarily the thing they do the most, but whatever it is they do that gives you the most loving feeling.”

“Yeah, I don’t have one,” Matthias insisted. Nina narrowed her eyes at him, a thought formulating in her mind.

“Jesper,” she said, smiling to herself, “I have a challenge for you.”

“You’re on,” he replied, eyes shining already at the thought of a bet.

“Who can make their boyfriend blush the most?”

“Oh, no!” Wylan said, closely followed by Matthias’ response of, “Absolutely not.”

“Why?” Nina asked innocently. “It shouldn’t be a problem. After all,” she lowered her voice and leaned towards Matthias, seeing his grey eyes dilate just a fraction as she neared, “you don’t have a love language.”

She moved back, and saw the simultaneous relief and annoyance cross his face. It was all too easy to do this sort of thing when he was being so stubborn.

“I’m in,” Jesper grinned. “If only Kaz was here and we could get Inej involved.”

“Like I can make Kaz blush,” she snorted.

“Scheming face only covers up so much,” Nina pointed out, and Inej did shrug at that.

“I wouldn’t do that to him anyway.”

“So why is it Wylan and I can be subjected to it?” Matthias demanded, giving Inej a hard look. But she was immune to it, and just gave him a wide smile.

“Because you deserve it.”

Jesper laughed, and Nina squeezed Inej’s hand under the table. Looking at the two doomed men, one scowling unpleasantly and the other rolling his eyes but still smiling, she knew that they had both already lost.

“Have I mentioned how pretty Wylan is?” Jesper said, squeezing the aforementioned boy’s hand. “Just look at him! How did I get so lucky?”

“You really are very lucky,” Nina conceded, “but how handsome is Matthias?” She looked at him, and saw the glower dissolve into a grimace. “Look at those shoulders. He’s so masculine and hot.”

Inej giggled, looking between the four of them eagerly.

“I don’t understand why you’d want someone so huge when you can have a string bean like Wy,” Jesper continued. “He’s so slim, so dainty. I could pick him up and throw him.”

“Why is that a compliment?” Wylan asked, looked confused rather than flattered. Nina laughed.

“Because I can throw you into my bed,” Jesper said smoothly, waggling his eyebrows. Inej cackled and Wylan smacked Jesper’s hand away from the front of his shirt. “Bet Nina can’t throw her beau into bed.”

“No, because I don’t need to,” she replied. “I’m just so alluring that he throws me.”

“Can we not?” Matthias groaned, hiding his face in his hands.

“Uh uh! No hiding faces!” Nina chided, grabbing his wrists and dragging them down. “We need to see when you start blushing so that I can win.”

“How about you actually say nice things rather than just being crude?”

“Darling, my crude things are nice.”

“Why are you so desperate to get in bed with me, then?”

“Because your grumpiness is actually a huge turn-on, and I find you irresistible,” she purred, stroking a finger along the back of his hand. There was a gulp from Wylan, and Nina grinned as she saw Matthias’ eyes bulge.

“I hate you,” he said, but his voice was strained.

“Oh yes,” Nina continued, “but hating me so much makes you even more eager to have me under your control. Hence the throwing me into bed. Hence the kissing me against the wall. Hence then—”

“Okay this is getting a bit much even for me,” Jesper said, shaking the collar of his shirt and blowing out a breath. “Wylan! You’d better not be blushing at what Nina just said.”

“I-I’m not!” he said, covering his warm cheeks with his hands. “But Matthias is.”

It was true. Nina looked at her boyfriend and saw his strong face was all rosy and pink. And it was adorable.

“Aw, have I ruffled you a bit?” she said, reaching forwards to stroke the back of her hand over his cheek. Matthias huffed but accepted it.

“Not nearly as much as I’m going to ruffle you tonight,” he growled.

And it was Nina’s turn to blush heavily as warmth settled in her chest. Well, it was unexpected for Matthias to get this heated, literally, but she wasn’t about to complain. Who knew this was the way?

“Isn’t this a turn up for the books?” Inej said, taking a sip of port. “Nina gets an early night, and Jesper loses another bet.” More laughter.

“Hey!” he protested. “I made Wylan blush earlier.”

“That was before Nina called the bet, though,” Inej pointed out.

“Well shit.”

“Can we all agree,” Nina said, “that Matthias has a love language, and that it is me?”

“His love language is you?” Wylan snorted.

“Yep. Just me. Nina Zenik. Matthias’ love language.”

“I’ll take that,” Matthias said, raising his eyebrows and sighing. “I certainly speak Nina better than most languages.”

“Including Fjerdan, some days.” Nina leaned over and gently pecked him on the cheek. She had embarrassed him a little, and that wasn’t as fun as simply riling him up, but it seemed all was forgiven. He gave her a warm look and put his hand on her thigh, squeezing it firmly in the way he knew she loved.

Nina meant every word of what she said about how attractive she found Matthias. Hell, if she hadn’t been more concerned with not humiliating him, there was a bullet-pointed list of reasons she loved him already prepared in her head, working from head to toe and inside to out. It just wasn’t the kind of the list that most friends would enjoy hearing about someone in her group. Actually, knowing her friends, they might not be as opposed as they should be.

“Can we agree that that was a draw?” Jesper pleaded. “I may have already asked Kaz for a pay extension this month, and I don’t want to have to again.”

“We never agreed on a price, so you don’t have to pay up,” Nina grinned. He visibly relaxed from the other side of the table.

“Thank Ghezen for that. Kaz might kill me.”

“Do you think that’s his love language? Murder?”

“No,” Inej said, “He doesn’t have enough love in him for the amount of people he’s killed.”

Everyone laughed again, including Inej despite the self-deprecation, and Nina took another gulp of beer as Matthias smoothed circles into her thigh with his thumb. There was so much good around this table, in the company she kept. And she was looking forward to making it back to the Slat with Matthias tonight, may Ghezen help whoever was sleeping in the room below theirs.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that didn't go as well as I had hoped, but I'm still fairly happy with this. I just love the group dynamic of the Crows so much, and even minus Kaz it's still incredibly fun to write them. I hope I managed to nail their characters, and that this was as fun to read as it was to come up with and write.
> 
> Tomorrow's prompt is "sweet", and will be a Kaz/Inej fic.


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